Assessing the language of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves, according to theo ry, an underlying impairment of executive function-the cognitively based co ntrol system that regulates behavior. It is possible that this executive dy sfunction interferes with performance on certain tasks used to identify lan guage impairment (LI). We compared the performance of 3 groups of children aged 7 to 11 years: ADHD-only (n = 25), ADHD+LI (n = 28), and non-ADHD cont rols (n = 24), on 18 tasks within 3 language measures (Test of Word Finding , Rosner's Auditory Analysis Test, Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamen tals-Revised). Children with ADHD-only performed like those without the dis order on most tasks examined. However, the CELF-R Formulated Sentences subt est was particularly difficult for children with ADHD-only. In-depth error analysis indicated that aspects of the executive dysfunction in ADHD such a s impulsivity and pragmatic deficits may have influenced performance on thi s subtest. Clinical implications for testing children with ADHD are discuss ed.